Update from Eion Robb and Brandon Holland
Eion Robb about Skype and multi-protocol instant messengers
Hi, since we last spoke, I’ve had 17,000 downloads of the plugin.
And we’ve got multi-user chats working. Also, I’ve added a few more voice features to the plugin: you can now call directly from your contact list, call SkypeOut numbers and accept incoming calls. Since Adium and Pidgin still don’t have voice or video working in their clients, the plugin uses Skype’s own voice and video.
I’m aiming to be able to do everything with Pidgin/Adium that you can do with Skype, so the next thing I’m working on is sending SMS messages.
Checking the comments on Skype blog posts and posts on other sites, the biggest complaint is that, unlike other protocols in Pidgin/Adium, Skype needs to be running for the plugin to work.
While I am working on a way to solve this, it’s a long while away from completion. Until this is ready, I believe that it’s better to have this intermediate step.
A lot of people will already be running Skype while they’re using Pidgin so they shouldn’t find this a problem, but if you do, this plugin probably isn’t for you.
Brandon Holland about Skype on AppleTV
I am doing really well!
]]>How many downloads I am getting? Since I released the plugin 2 months ago, I have had over 2,000,000 hits to the website and over 2000 downloads of the Skype plugin itself.
Any problems, new features? At the moment I am working on a much easier way to log in and change users, as well as an easier method to install the plugin.
And I also released my Skype Plugin for Mac OS Leopard Front Row few days ago where users dont’t need an Apple TV anymore. It is available for download on my website.
“the biggest complaint is that, unlike other protocols in Pidgin/Adium, Skype needs to be running for the plugin to work”
Yes. Please focus on this first. The plugin is pointless if you have to run Skype at the same time.
“The plugin is pointless if you have to run Skype at the same time.”
For some perhaps. But there are a LOT of us who do NOT consider this plugin to be “pointless” despite this limitation.
You are, endolith, welcome to your own opinion of course. But if you and others REALLY find the current dependency of the Skype Plugin for Pidgin/Adium upon the Skype client unacceptable then please consider contributing funds (or skills) to Eion’s project specifically for that work. Otherwise, it will be your comment here that is (and will remain) “pointless”; Not this already extremely useful plug-in.